Imagery
by ultrabreezy
Summary: imagery - mental images collectively, esp. those produced by the action of imagination.  Lani has always relied on her imagination to survive, but one day it just isn't enough anymore. She summons a demon who can supposedly grant any wish...
1. Chapter 1

Alone. She was all alone. She hated it, but she liked loneliness better than this twisted generation of foolish, two-dimensional, and predictable adolescents blinded by hormones. Even so, she was still merely a face among thousands of faces with no meaning at all. She lived her life with no purpose besides her belief that dying for no reason was cowardly, and that just wasn't who she was. Or, that's what she wanted to believe anyway.

But she needed something. She needed something to make this life worth living. And she'd do anything to get it.

.

I woke up to another gray, cloudy day. I set my alarm clock to go off at 6 so I could turn over and pretend to attempt to motivate myself to get through the day. As utterly pathetic as this sounds, I have an imaginary friend. I know, I'm 14. I should have finished going through that phase before preschool, but he's all the motivation I've got. I can't count on real people. All they do is disappoint me. I probably sound like I'm all high and mighty and think I never disappoint people, but that's far from the truth.

I am the worst of them all.

_Hiroshi, where are you?_ I asked in my head.

"Right in front of your face." I heard him say, mockingly. And so his face appeared right in front of my face. I saw all of him. Or, at least I imagined him. I know he's not really there, but I imagine he's there, helping me through the day. Like always.

Hiroshi looks exactly like Hiroshi from the anime Ookami Kakushi, but they really don't have any connection other than that. I only pictured him like that because I like the name Hiroshi and that was what image appeared when I thought of his name. Their personalities and thoughts are totally different. Hiroshi from Ookami Kakushi is shy and reserved, but my Hiroshi is his polar opposite. He says the thoughts I don't like thinking. He screams them and sometimes takes them too far, but I admire that about him. He pushes me around in the mornings, partly because he's grumpy and partly because I won't listen otherwise. He amuses me at school when I lose interest in what the teachers try to shove into my brain in the 55 minute opportunity they're given each day. He sits in the seat next to me at lunch where nobody else will sit and we talk and make fun of people. He's there when I'm at home, alone, and in need of a hand to hold. He's the perfect boy for me. It's just so painful that he doesn't exist. It hits me sometimes, but I forget reality and go with my imagination, because otherwise I wouldn't be sane.

_Hiroshiiiiii, I don't want to get up._

"Get your scrawny ass up. Come on. You're gonna be late."

_ So fucking what? Late to a day of nothing worth mentioning? Thanks but no thanks._

He sighs and pulls me out of bed, which really means I'm pulling myself out of bed. I know that in my head, but the part of me that's trying to keep me sane says that Hiroshi, my imaginary-best-friend-and-sometimes-boyfriend-depending-on-the-day is pulling me out of bed.

_Fine,_ I tell him_. I surrender_. I throw on what I laid out the night before, jeans, a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it, and a gray jacket, and brush my teeth. I use the mouthwash that dyes all the crap in your mouth green because I find it amusing. Hiroshi can't comprehend why I like it so much. It's just mouthwash. I grab a bottle of Lipton tea from the fridge, grab my backpack, and go.

I don't take the bus, obviously. It's less work, but it takes just as long as walking does and it's filled with people. In this case, I'll take the road less traveled.

I walk the routine route until I reach the school gate. I looked up to the sky to admire the gray clouds, which was the type of weather I always liked. What do I get? A drop of water right in the eye. It starts to rain. I head inside the school, trying to avoid the coming rain. I just barely make it to class on time. Hiroshi scolds me for it, but he doesn't really mean it; he doesn't really care. The talking and other white noise in the background annoys me and the lesson bores me, so I ask for a pass to go to the bathroom. The teacher, like usual, doesn't care what I do and writes me one. I fast-walk to it. I head into one of the stalls, lock the door, and sit on the toilet (with the seat down. I'm not using it.) I bring my knees to my chest and put my head down, enjoying the silence. Hiroshi leaves me alone for a while.

I don't count the minutes. I lose track of time. I probably fell asleep. I heard two girls talking really loudly which snapped my attention back to this world.

"-is really creepy, right?"

"Yeah, totally."

"What are you talking about?"

"You haven't heard the stories about it yet? There are a ton of weird stories about that forest."

I wasn't really paying attention until they said the word "forest." There was one forest in this town that was my safe place. I had a tent there and I would go there every day because nobody else did. Home is where the heart is, right? My heart was there. That was my home. That forest in particular creeped a lot of people out though. I never learned why, but that was because nobody ever told me the stories that people told about it. Considering how antisocial I am, it shouldn't be surprising that I'm not caught up on the latest gossip.

"They say there are, like, ghosts that run through it."

"Not ghosts. Demons."

"Ghosts, demons, same thing."

"No, not really."

"Whatever! Anyway, these things feast on human souls. They eat a little piece every time you walk through it. If you go through it time and time again, you'll become soulless and… what's that word…"

"Apathetic?"

"Right. Soulless and apathetic."

"That's one story. Another story says that these things will grant you a wish, but once your wish is granted, they eat your soul."

"Oh, that sounds like a good deal, to be honest."

"Are you kidding? One measly wish for your fuggin' soul? You want to go to Heaven, right? Demons live in the deepest depths of Hell. Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want a resident of Hell granting me a wish of any kind."

My eyes widened. My stomach churned. I thought I was going to vomit for a second, but the feeling passed. Hiroshi was behind me, but I didn't notice when he got there. He put his hand on my shoulder, which forced me to think clearly for a second. I laughed a little.

_Tch. Demons. What utter bullshit. Of course things like that don't exist. __Right, Hiroshi?_

"Of course," he said, reassuring me. I felt stupid for feeling so worked up over it now. I don't know why I got that way. Hiroshi rubbed my back, trying to soothe me. I felt better.

It sounded like the girls left. To be sure, I waited until the bell rang. I walked out of the stall and looked at the clock. It was lunch time. I slept through second and third period. I sighed and left the school. There was no point in me sitting through that noisy prison that people call the cafeteria when I already missed half the day and had to make up a ton of work tomorrow anyway. All I had left were unimportant classes (Student Aide, Gym and Music Appreciation.)

"I don't see the point of staying here either," Hiroshi agreed. "Just go. Nobody cares. Just have your mom write a note for tomorrow."

I nodded to him and tried to casually make my way to the front doors and out the parking lot. Juniors and seniors left during lunch all the time, so it didn't look that strange that I was leaving.

Once I was in the parking lot, I ran from the school. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, and Hiroshi wiped it from my face as I was running. Don't ask how that makes sense; I have no flipping idea. Never question Hiroshi.

I was running to the forest. The gloomy sky complemented the scenery of it perfectly. It was late fall, so the cold made a lot of the trees bare. The ground was covered in dead leaves. The air smelled like rain. I ran and ran, sprinting past tree after tree after tree. I arrived at my tent that I had set up in my special spot, and I dashed inside it.

Inside my tent, there really wasn't anything important, just in case someone stumbled upon it and thought they could take whatever they wanted from inside, which happened from time to time. I didn't own that spot after all. There were three blankets, two pillows, and a few books that I got at Borders. I turned on my iPod that was in my pocket and listened to music with Hiroshi.

_So I've been sleeping with this silence in my mind,_

_ All I see scares me._

_ And no one knows it, but she saved me._

I leaned my head on Hiroshi's shoulder. He smiled. I felt at peace for a minute.

_So I've been sleeping with this silence in my brain._

_ Awakening here every day in this goddamn place._

_ I won't wait here anymore._

Those lyrics repeated in my head. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore.

Hiroshi wasn't there anymore. I realized that he never was there. My savior doesn't exist. My only ally is a pathetic figment of my imagination. I had a headache. Tears flowed from my eyes like a river.

_Now look. You've made a fool out of love._

_When all we want is to be enough._

_When all we want is to feel enough._

The words repeated again and again. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore. I won't wait here anymore. I crawled outside of my tent and stood up.

"I WON'T WAIT HERE ANYMORE!" I screamed. "COME ON, FUCKING DEMON. GRANT ME A WISH. TAKE MY SOUL. TAKE IT. I DON'T NEED IT." I waited a minute. "COME ON OUT, COWARD. DOESN'T MY SOUL LOOK TASTY?"

Nothing happened. I laughed at myself, softly at first, but my volume increased.

"My soul is probably disgusting anyway."

I heard soft laughter. I thought it was my own at first; I thought I finally cracked. But then bits and pieces of the world turned to black before my eyes until I was standing in pure darkness. I would have looked around, but there was no point. There's no way in hell that I'd be able to see anything.

"You're quite calm considering what's just happened to you," I heard a voice say. It was a male's voice. He sounded confident, and almost arrogant, but humble at the same time. It was kind of difficult to describe.

"Wasn't this what I asked for just now?" I asked. My voice was quivering a bit. Not out of fear, but out of the sorrow that Hiroshi wasn't by my side.

The man chuckled again. "Indeed it was. So," the voice stopped. A face appeared before my eyes, but only a face. It was wearing a black mask over its eyes, so I couldn't see them very well, but I saw its smile. It was the smile of a sly and crafty individual. "What is your wish? What is that desire that's so great that you're willing to sacrifice your soul for?"

"I want…" I thought about it. What did I really want? What kind of wish was I hoping for? The demon scoffed at me.

"You don't even know what to wish for?"

"No! That's not it!" I tried to put my thoughts into words. "I want… to just live a happy life for a little while. My surrounding doesn't even have to be happy. I just want to be in a place where people acknowledge my existence. I want... to be accepted. Yeah, I think that's right."

"That's simple eno-"

"No, I wasn't finished." I interrupted. "I don't want to be accepted by these shallow people who don't understand that the problems they go through aren't real problems at all. I want… to live in the past! Yes, that's it! Like, the 1800s or something! Those are the people I want to live my life with."

"Oh, is that so?" The face before me disappeared. What took its place was a man that was dressed formally, but not formally like in a tuxedo. He looked more like a butler. He looked like a normal person, except for his eyes, which where a deep red. I pictured a demon to look more like a beast of some kind. His hand was to his chin, and he looked as if he was deep in thought. "I suppose I could do that. You're aware of the consequences to have this wish granted, aren't you? Once one has rejected faith, it is impossible for them to pass through the gates of Heaven."

I laughed like a psychopath. "Would someone who believed in God summon a demon?" I asked.

The man laughed too. He seemed truly amused this time. "Wise words, young lady. I will ask you this only once more: Are you sure that you wish to form this contract? It can not be broken."

"You talk too much. Hurry up and make the fucking contract."

He chuckled yet again. "I would appreciate it if you keep in mind that you're talking to a demon."

"_Please_ hurry up and make the fucking contract then."

"As you wish."

I felt a terrible burning sensation on my neck. My neck muscles tensed up and it hurt like hell, no pun intended. I yelled out curse words left and right. Just as quickly as it started, the pain stopped.

And so my new life began.


	2. Chapter 2

I opened my eyes. Wait a minute, something didn't make sense.

When did I fall asleep?

And… just where was I?

I looked at my surroundings. I was in a bed, and quite a luxurious one at that. I've never seen a bed quite as nice as this. And I was wearing a dress of some sort, which is really unusual because I've never willingly worn a dress before. The furniture around me looked expensive.

Before this, where was I again? I couldn't remember. I remembered it was something important though. Let's see. I was in the forest with Hiroshi. Hiroshi disappeared. Then I… I summoned the demon! What happened though! How was I here? My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

Speak of the devil.

In walks the demon who granted my wish. I just kind of stared dumbfoundedly. That probably wasn't the best reaction, but it was all I could manage. He stopped and turned towards me, bowing slightly.

"Good morning, Lady Lani. Please excuse my intrusion. Breakfast this morning is-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down a bit. What exactly did you do? Who are you? Where is this? Why am I in this dress?"

"I merely granted your wish. Your name is now Lani Phantomhive, cousin of Ciel Phantomhive, the head of Funtom Co. You live in his mansion. I am his butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He bowed once more.

"And the dress?"

"It is customary of women in this time period to wear nightgowns while they rest," he claimed, smiling as if none of this was strange at all.

"Of course it is," I mumbled.

"Your wardrobe for the day has been laid out for you and sits on the dresser. Do you require assistance getting dressed?"

I just kind of sat there for a minute again. I didn't entirely understand it, but I was just rolling with it. This was so weird. Was it a dream? It probably was. There's no way something like this could happen in reality. I looked at my lap for a moment, pondering the idea.

"Miss?"

"Oh, right. You asked me a question. What did you ask again?"

"Do you need help getting dressed?"

"Was that supposed to be some kind of perverted joke? Of course I don't. That would be really weird if I did!"

"Please forgive me, Lady Lani," Sebastian apologized, "I didn't realize that that was a strange question for you. I will now leave your room so you can get ready. Breakfast is being prepared and will be ready in a few minutes in the dining room. If you require any assistance finding it, feel free to ask one of the servants. Please excuse me."

Sebastian left and shut the door.

Okay.

What?

I felt like I was in a dream. Things weren't making much sense. I got up and undressed myself. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The first thing that I saw was my green eyes that looked like they could pierce through a soul. My shoulder length black hair was a tangled mess. But I saw something that wasn't usually there. It looked like some kind of mark on my neck. I tried to wipe it off, put it didn't come off. Slightly panicked, I moved my hair out of the way and got a closer look at the part in the mirror. The mark was a teal color. The main symbol I could recognize from it was a star, which was the biggest and most prominent one. There were other little symbols inside and around it. I remembered the searing pain in my neck. Was that related to this?

I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I bit my finger, trying to wake myself up if I was in a dream. Nothing. I dug my sharp nails into my thigh. It hurt, but I didn't wake up. So… this was real. I was really here. I felt a smile creep across my face.

I got into the clothes that Sebastian had laid out for me. I tried to imagine what Ciel Phantomhive would look like. He owned a company, which is obviously doing well considering the exquisiteness of this mansion. To be doing this well, he must be well spoken at the very least. He has to have a good head on his shoulders. He's probably tall and handsome. And kind too! He took me in, right? He had to be kind.

I walked out of the bedroom and into what looked like a huge maze of hallways. I scanned up and down the walls of the hall I was in. I had no idea where I was supposed to be going. Before I could even guess, I heard a loud explosion followed by glass breaking. Then I heard a man yell out something like, "AHH! THE HAM SEBASTIAN LEFT OUT!" I could have run away from the explosion and screaming which would have been the logical thing to do, but a part of me wanted to get a look at the catastrophe.

While walking towards the place where I heard the noise, I came across an open door. Inside I saw a man with his hair so frizzed that it looked like he had an afro staring at an extremely charred ham, a cute girl in a maid outfit sitting on the floor, panicking and picking up broken pieces of glass, and a blonde boy who looked a little bit older than me helping the cute maid. The room was in shambles. It looked like it was a kitchen at one point, complete with refrigerator and oven, but the refrigerator was blackened by the explosion and the oven was scattered all over the floor in pieces.

I couldn't help but laugh at it. It must have been cruel of me, considering the state of panic the servants were in, but I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I couldn't remember the last time I laughed so hard at something. The three of them looked up at me, realizing that I was standing there.

"Oh! You must be the girl Sebastian mentioned!" the young blonde boy said. I stopped laughed and he stood up. "He told us that you came to the mansion last night and that you would be staying with us for a while. It's very nice to meet you! My name is Finnian, but feel free to call me Finny! I'm the gardener of the house."

The maid stood up also and replaced her panicked face with a smile. "My name is Maylene. Welcome to the Phantomhive household," she said, bowing.

The other man smiled as well. "You can call me Bard. It's nice to meet you."

The three of their faces were brimming with joy. That was something I had never really seen before. Just looking at them made me really happy. "It's nice to meet the three of you as well," I said, smiling just as they did, "My name is Lani. I hope we all get to know each other in the future. Oh! Sebastian told me that one of you would be able to point me in the direction of the dining room. Can you help me out?"

"Of course!" Finny answered. He walked out of the destroyed kitchen and into the hallway. "Ciel's dining room isn't too far from here. It's on this side of the hallway," he gestured to the right side, "and it's 6 doors down from here. Easy, right? If you need anything else, feel free to ask."

"Oh, I see. Thank you very much!"

I walked in the direction that Finny pointed in as he left the hallway. As I was walking, I remembered something that Finny had said. 'He told us that you came to the mansion last night.' At first I figured it was just a lie that Sebastian told so it seemed like I had a logical explanation for being here, but now I felt like I remembered arriving last night. I got here really, really early in the morning and I came in a carriage, or so my memory was telling me. My gut said otherwise. But why would I remember something like that if it didn't happen? As I got to the door of the dining room, I decided that it wasn't too big of a deal and opened the door.

Inside, I saw the fanciest dining room I've ever seen in my life. There was a boy that looked a few years younger than me sitting down and eating a scone. He was adorable! He was one of the cutest boys that I've ever seen! He felt my presence and looked up at me. I was about to melt when I noticed that he wasn't smiling. He wasn't exactly frowning; he just wasn't smiling. He would have been much cuter to me had he been smiling.

Sebastian came in with a cart of various breakfasts including orange juice, milk, bacon, muffins, french toast, and more scones. He too became aware of my presence. He glanced at the clock.

"Oh, you arrived here earlier than I had anticipated. I have not set up the dining table yet. Please forgive me. It will only be a moment."

The boy stood up and walked towards me. I felt my cheeks reddening a bit. He bowed slightly and said, "You arrived pretty late last night, so we haven't been formally introduced yet. I am Ciel Phantomhive. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Inside my head, I was pretty mindfucked. I think I managed to keep my composure on the outside, but I _definitely_ was not expecting that! He was so young! I would expecting an adult! And not only that, but he had this strange and mature aura about him that I've never experienced around anyone else before.

"O-oh. Right. My name is Lani Phantomhive. It's nice to meet you too." I stuttered a bit as I said it, so I probably sounded nervous, but it was because I was consciously thinking about what I said before I said it. Not only was I still in shock about the boy's identity, but my name wasn't Lani Phantomhive until about half an hour ago, so I was just going over it again in my head.

"Young Master, Lady Lani," Sebastian said, "The breakfast has been properly laid out. Please sit down and enjoy. I have made a variety of dishes this morning, so please take as many as you like."

"Uh, right. Thank you," I replied. I sat down at the dining table and stared at the food. Then I looked at Ciel. He was barely eating. He was staring at Sebastian more than anything else.

"Young Master, please eat. You have a busy day ahead of you," Sebastian mentioned. Ciel scoffed.

"This scone is too sweet. Make me a steak omelet."

"My apologies. I will prepare it right away."

And Sebastian took the plate and walked away.

This point was probably the point where I was most confused. I still didn't quite understand all of what happened. So many things didn't add up. First of all, why was a mere boy that looked younger than me the head of a large household? Why did he have a demon as a butler? Why did the demon just take Ciel's bitchy comments and apologize?

Despite everything that I didn't understand, I liked this place two hundred times better than my previous home. It's so full of life. Nothing is see-through here, as opposed to my original time period. There are people that I feel are worth getting to know and understand. All things considered, this place just might be worth what's left of my broken and pitiful soul.


	3. Chapter 3

The breakfast was seriously delicious. I imagine that this was the kind of meal that the chefs on TV shows on the Food Network make. I swear, if right then I had to choose to only eat one thing and one thing alone for the rest of my life, it would have been the sweet equilibrium of flavors known as Sebastian's breakfast food.

I heard Sebastian's booming voice outside of the dining room say something like, "Get to work!" followed by the squealing of the household servants. I laughed a little bit. I really did like the servants. I wanted to know more about them, which is a feeling that I haven't experienced in quite a while.

I finished stuffing Sebastian's oh-so-delicious cooking down esophagus picked up the plate. I was going to carry it to the kitchen when Ciel stopped me.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding like he was mocking me, which I found to be really annoying, but I ignored it for the time being. I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with him.

"I was just going to take this to the kitchen."

"Why? Sebastian will do it," he said as if it were common knowledge.

"But if I can do it, then why shouldn't I?"

"That's the servant's job, isn't it?"

"Really?" I asked. I thought about it for a second and spoke again, "Well, servant or not, I was raised to believe that it's rude not to pick up after myself."

"Oh? All right then. Have it your way," he replied. I wasn't really looking at him as I walked out, but I could feel his smirk. I could just feel his eyes following me as I walked out.

"How interesting," I heard him mutter.

I took my dish through the maze of hallways and into the kitchen where I saw Maylene cleaning up. I dropped it into the sink and set off a chain reaction that couldn't have been predicted by even the most skilled psychic. The dish made a loud clanging sound which scared Maylene which made her jump up and hit her head on a shelf with plates on it which made it shake which made the plates fall off of the shelf which landed on the pile of glass that Maylene swept up in just the right way to the point where it exploded and scattered itself along the floor again.

"AH! Look at what I did!" Maylene yelled in surprise. She frantically swept up the glass again. I picked another broom I saw and helped her. It was my fault for scaring her, so the least I could do was help.

"Eh? Lady Lani, are you helping me? Thank you, but I don't need any help. It was my fault for being clumsy after all! Not only that, but as the maid it's my job to clean up messes like these. Oh, Sebastian is going to be so angry if he finds out that Young Master's plates were shattered!"

"But-," I started to say.

"Maylene, what are you doing?" Sebastian interrupted me. I turned around to see him standing in the doorway.

Again, Maylene got scared. She slipped and made this UWAAH kind of sound. I expected her to hit the ground and send the items in her dustpan flying once more, but instead I saw Sebastian catch her, the dustpan, and everything inside it. My eyes widened. What an amazing sight I just saw.

"My, my. You haven't even been here twelve hours and you're already causing a rather large ruckus, Lady Lani. Young Master has a guest coming over today to discuss business related matters and everything needs to go perfectly for it. I would appreciate it if you would not disrupt the servants while they are working."

"But I just-," I started again, but Sebastian's oddly intimidating smile silenced me, "Right. Sorry."

"As for you, Maylene, please leave this mess to me. I will take care of it." Maylene had the same reaction to him as I did. We both walked out of the kitchen with our tails between our legs.

"Um, Maylene?" I whispered after Sebastian was out of earshot, "What is there to do around here?"

"Well, what do you like to do? We have pretty much everything here, I believe," she answered, sounding proud to live in such a place. I couldn't tell her that I spent the majority of my time on my laptop, so I thought of my second favorite thing to do.

"Read."

"Would you like me to take you to the library then?" she asked with that brilliantly shining face of hers.

"Yes!" I answered. I felt my face suddenly shine almost as brilliantly.

Who knew that something so simple could make me smile?

Maylene led me to the library door. I thanked her, and she walked away. I took a deep breath and walked inside. You'd think I'd be used to this type of thing by this point, but it was still so foreign to me. Being the bibliophile I am, I kept quite a large number of books at home in my bedroom, but that was nothing in comparison to this. Row after row after row of books surrounded me. There were bookcases all around the walls of the room. I took a closer look at the collection. It was even sorted like a public library would be sorted. To my dismay, the majority of the books were nonfiction, but even so, they were all on interesting topics.

"Amazing," I couldn't help but whisper to myself.

I picked out a fiction book that looked interesting and sat down. I was about to read it when I realized that I didn't have my mp3 player with me. I usually had some kind of music on when I read. I sighed, realizing a small downside to my wish. No technology.

I sat in silence for a few minutes and just thought. I recapped on everything that had happened, and I wanted to tell somebody about it. Nobody would understand though.

Then I felt a chilling guilt run through my veins and down to the very marrow of my bones. It engulfed me. I just remembered something that I had forgotten. I remembered the only person who _would_ understand my situation.

"Hiroshi. I'm sorry. I forgot about you."

I talked to him out loud for once.

"Hiroshi, please come out."

Just when my guilt was about to eat me alive, he appeared. He crossed his arms and pouted like a child. I knew full well why, so I didn't ask him. I always included him in _everything_ exciting that I did. Everything. The fact that I had the nerve to forget to include him in one of the most thrilling things in my life so far was so inconsiderate of me.

"Please don't be stubborn with me! Everything happened so fast. I'm still confused about it all!"

Of course, right then Sebastian came in and saw me pleading for forgiveness from my imaginary friend. He had to come in right then.

I stopped and stared at Sebastian. Sebastian stared at me.

"Is there a reason you're staring at me, Lady Lani?"

"Is there a reason you're staring at me, Sebastian?"

He snickered. "I merely came in here to tidy up the library before our guest arrived. When I walked in, you stopped what you were doing and stared at me, so I assumed that you wished to speak to me. That's all."

"Who is that?" Hiroshi asked cynically.

I hesitated in answering. I didn't want to answer him out loud. Sebastian would send me to some kind of mental hospital in the 1800s where they would give me a lobotomy or something.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, if that's the reason you're afraid. I am but your servant, tied to you by the symbol that was burned into your skin. That seal is the mark of our agreement. I promise you that I will grant your wish, but when the time comes for your body to perish, I get to do whatever I want with your soul. I will not harm you in any way until then."

"What is he talking about, Lani?" Hiroshi asked, getting more and more impatient by the second.

"That explains a little bit."

"What is he talking about, Lani!"

"HIROSHI, SHUT UP FOR TWO SECONDS PLEASE."

Oh god, I snapped again.

Silence.

I looked down at my feet. My face grew hot, along with my throat. I felt like I was going to cry again. I felt Sebastian's eyes on me.

"If you're worried about me knowing about your imaginary friend, don't. From the moment we made that contract, I knew everything about your past, including that."

My face went from red to pale.

"Well, this is really awkward isn't it," I said, trying to laugh it off.

"I apologize for making you uncomfortable. I'll leave you alone now. Please excuse me."

The demon walked out.

I was alone with Hiroshi again.

"Tell me what's going on," Hiroshi implored once more. His voice didn't sound annoyed anymore, but I still didn't really want to hear it right then.

"Can I be alone right now? I need to sort out my thoughts."

"But aren't I usually the once who helps you do th-,"

"I need to be alone, Hiroshi," I said desperately. I felt a tear run down my cheek, and then there was no stopping it. One after the next, they fell. When I looked up, Hiroshi was gone, but the tears kept coming. I didn't even know why I was crying. How pathetic, I thought to myself. How pathetic indeed.

I closed my eyes and took multiple deep breaths. It helped me clear my head a little. I felt my heart ache a little still, though. I plopped my back against the seat of the couch cushion I was on. I took one more deep breath and tried to smile.

Why did I even freak out in the first place?

At that point, I just laughed. I started laughing at everything. My odd emotional instability, the completely random situation I was in, everything. I suppose it was just the stress of a situation so foreign to me that set me off. I don't think I could have even imagined something like this happening if I wanted to, so I wasn't really surprised that something like that happened, in hindsight.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I saw Hiroshi peek his head out from behind a bookcase and stare at me as if he was surveying my level of sanity. I giggled a bit.

"I think I'm mentally stable now. At least more than I was a few minutes ago," I said, smiling. He smiled back and sat down by my feet.

"I'm glad. I was worried for a minute there. Sit up for a minute."

I sat up. Hiroshi hugged me and whispered, "I don't exactly understand what you did or how you did it, but I'm always here if you need somebody. Even if the rest of the world betrays you, I will not."

I embraced him back and responded, "Thank you, Hiroshi." He faded away, leaving my arms empty, but I wasn't sad. I wasn't alone. He said he would always be there for me, and that was good enough for me.

I decided that I'd had enough of the library for now. It was time for a little exploring.

I crept out of the library and into the hallway. I scanned the doors on the walls to see if any of them looked like they held something interesting within. None of them really looked any different from the rest however, so I just began opening doors at random.

The first door I opened was a small room, only slightly bigger than a closet. It had an old telephone (thought I suppose it would be the newest technology for this time period) placed on top of a small wooden table. I guess this would be a good place to go if I ever needed to call somebody at some point.

I stealthily crept out of the small room and into one next door to it. That room was a storage room for a wide variety of tea sets. I've never seen so many tea cups in my life. I stopped to admire some of their craftsmanship. Some were simple, but very elegant. Some had intricate designs that screamed "I'm-expensive-so-you-better-not-break-me!" I decided that I could look at them some more later and tiptoed back out into the hallway.

I don't really know why I was trying to be all sneaky about it. It was just more fun that way. I quietly ran down the hallway and up some stairs. I felt like a little kid in a maze. I couldn't have been paying very much attention to where I was going, because it wasn't long until I ran into Sebastian.

He sighed and brought his hand to his forehead. "As if I didn't have enough to take care of right now," he said to himself.

"I'm not bothering anyone, am I? So why do you have that annoyed expression on your face when you look at me?" I asked.

"You're not bothering anybody right now, however Young Master's guest will be arriving in an hour, and we need to provide him with the hospitality that the Phantomhive household should. If you were to crash into him while running around crazily everywhere like you just did to me a moment ago, it would be a problem."

I suppose he's right. "Okay, so what should I do when he's here?"

"Perhaps you could observe the young master. Not only would it be beneficial for you to see how one from the Phantomhive family should behave around a guest, but you might get to know him a bit better, which would also be beneficial to the both of you."

"Okay, so what about now?"

"Please follow me," Sebastian requested politely. I nodded and followed. He walked me past a few rooms and opened a door. It looked like a game room. It had a pool table, a chessboard, and a few other miscellaneous game items. Ciel was sitting at the chess table. It looked like he was starting to make a house of cards.

"Young Master, Lady Lani would like to play a game with you until the guest arrives," Sebastian said, smiling that smug-yet-humble grin of his.

"Oh? Is that so?" Ciel asked, looking from his small tower to me. He smiled a sly and crafty smile, which made me somewhat uneasy. "All right then. Thank you, Sebastian."

Sebastian nodded obediently and left, leaving me with this mysterious boy. I tried to look through his eyes, figuratively speaking, and make out the type of person that he was. I was pretty good at reading people's personalities a majority of the time. I couldn't really see anything when I looked into Ciel's uncovered eye. No, that's not exactly right. I definitely saw a spark of _something_, I just couldn't tell what. I wasn't used to this type of person. It was almost exhilarating. I could see through almost everybody I met, but here, I couldn't tell what anybody was truly like, especially not Ciel.

"So," Ciel started, "What kind of game would you like to play?"

He was still smiling oh-so-creepily. Or maybe that was just his regular smile?

I looked around a bit. "Checkers, maybe?"

Ciel nodded. He knocked his small tower of cards over and began to set up the checkerboard. "Red or black?"

"Either," I answered.

Ciel had all of the black pieces on his side of the board which meant I was red. I was quite confident in my checker playing skills, but I was sure that Ciel was too. He gestured for me to make the first move, and the game began. I have always used the same strategies in every game of checkers I've played. The first is to lower the enemy's number of pieces by sacrificing a few of your own. For instance, I'll move a piece right in front of my opponent's, but when they jump over mine, they'll be in a position where I can jump over them. My second strategy was to never move my back four pieces. They were like the guards. They guarded the edge of the board to make sure the opposing team never touched it. If they touched it, their piece would become a king, and they would have a major upper hand.

However, this time it seemed that I had quite a knavish opponent. He figured out my strategies. He outwitted me whenever I tried to use the first strategy. Somehow he would always end up jumping two of my pieces for every one piece I got from him. After I got frustrated with that one, I studied the remaining pieces on the board closely. I noticed that he hadn't moved any of his back pieces either. At this point, I sighed a small sigh and looked at him once more.

"You know, a game of checkers can reveal a lot about a person's personality," Ciel claimed, looking up to me. "But you've figured out that much already, haven't you?"

"Well, yes and no," I replied. "That's true of most people, but I still can't get a clear image of you."

"Is that right? Then I'll make a deal with you. If you help me out with the guest that's coming over tonight, I will honestly answer one question you ask me. That should help you get a clearer image, shouldn't it?"

_That_ sounded interesting.

"All right. I'll help you."


End file.
